Research Information System
in: International Security, Nejat DOĞAN, Editor, Anadolu Üniversitesi, Eskişehir, pp.64-94, 2019
The use of force (the use of power) has always
been a critical issue for political, legal, and ethical reasons in world
politics. This is why the society of states has resorted to international law
in order to regulate the use of force. Because power has been used not only
between states in “regular wars” but also between various actors (such as
organizations and groups) in many different occasions and for many complicated
reasons, we also observe that international rules regulating the use of force
have changed over time and widened so as to cover some new developments.
Moreover, in an attempt to introduce their actions as legitimate, various
actors have differently interpreted these international rules. What is meant by
the use of force or the use of armed force in this chapter relates to those
actions undertaken by conventional (classical) weapons. The reason is that many
multilateral conventions were signed within the context of the United Nations
that banned the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons as
well as outlawed the use of such weapons. In other words, resorting to nuclear,
chemical, and biological weapons is already considered an illegitimate act in
international relations. For example, the Convention on the Prohibition of the
Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and
Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (referred to as the
Biological Weapons Convention – BWC), and the Convention on the Prohibition of
the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on
their Destruction (referred to as the Chemical Weapons Convention –CWC) came
into force in 1993 and 1997, respectively. Besides, although the P5 states (the
permanent members of the UN Security Council), namely the United States,
Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom, are in possession of nuclear
weapons, there is already consensus reached by the international society on the
non-proliferation of such weapons. In fact, not only that the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) came into force in 1970 but also that on 11 May 1995 the states
parties to the treaty have extended the NPT indefinitely. The NPT, which
legitimizes the use of nuclear energy for peaceful reasons, bans the
non-nuclear-weapon states to acquire a nuclear capacity while bringing an
obligation on the part of the nuclear weapon states not to transfer
nuclear-weapons technology to third parties.
In the following sections first we will analyze
the concept of the use of force within the UN system because the UN Charter
constitutes the main international treaty that lays down the basic principles
on the legitimate use of force. Moreover, the UN Charter regulates the
principles of individual and collective right of states to self-defense as well
as the requirements for imposing sanctions on aggressors in the system. The
chapter, in consistent with the recent developments in World politics, later
explains the emerging principles of use of force beyond the Charter paradigm
while surveying such issues as humanitarian intervention, defense of nationals
(citizens) abroad, and treaty-based intervention.
Keywords: Use of Force, Legitimacy, United
Nations, UN Charter, Peacekeeping, Right
to Self-Defense, Charter VII Powers of the Security Council, Intervention.